The Most Important Negotiation in Your Life

The Most Important Negotiation in Your Life

by Erica Ariel Fox  |  11:00 AM September 3, 2013

Life is a series of negotiations.

You negotiate all day, every day, from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Contract terms and conditions. Hiring, managing performance, and firing. Defining deadlines, scope, and deliverables. Collecting fees. Seeking alignment about business strategy. Enlisting stakeholders. Creating partnerships and joint ventures. Dissolving them. You make offers, counteroffers, and agreements to settle. You say yes. You say no. You stall for time. Finally, lunch. When you go home, the negotiations continue. Over buying a new car, switching carpool days, or how much screen time the kids are allowed. The stakes of negotiating at home can feel sky-high: which medical advice to follow; how much to spend or save; how long your aging parents can live at home; whether to stay together. From the major to the mundane, negotiating is the way we get things done. One of my clients told me, “my toughest negotiations are with my dog.” If you’re like most people, when you think about negotiation, you picture people talking to “the other side.” Whether they’re pitching to a customer in an office, brokering a peace deal at Camp David, or arguing over curfew at the kitchen table, negotiators are people trying to persuade other people of their point of view.

That’s only half the story.

After nearly 20 years of teaching negotiation at Harvard Law School, and the same years spent advising and training thousands of executives, public sector leaders, consultants and lawyers from all over the world, I see things differently. Actually, the most important negotiations we have — the ones that determine the quality of our lives and the impact of our actions — are the ones we have with ourselves. Learning to communicate well and to influence other people are essential skills in business. But even more fundamental to your success is learning to negotiate effectively with yourself.

Negotiating with yourself?

Yes. Better results, stronger relationships, and more of life’s deeper rewards, all come from learning to negotiate with yourself. Read more of this post

Ronald H. Coase challenged conventional economic wisdom

Ronald H. Coase challenged conventional economic wisdom

Pierre Lemieux, Special to Financial Post | 13/09/03 | Last Updated:13/09/03 4:16 PM ET

AP Photo/Courtesy of the University of Chicago Law SchoolThis undated photo provided by the University of Chicago Law School shows professor Ronald Coase. Coase, a Nobel Prize winner and pioneer in

Coase taught us why companies make sense, and why the polluter-pay principle doesn’t

It has been said of Ronald Coase, who died on Monday aged 102, that he wrote two articles in his career, and that each of them changed economics. In truth, Coase wrote several dozen articles and a few books, but a couple of his articles especially stand out as unique contributions.

The first seminal article was “The Nature of the Firm,” published in 1937. Why, asked Coase, does the firm exist? Why is not all production organized by arms-length contractors under the coordination of the market? Why does the authoritarian firm exist within the anarchistic context of the free market? Coase’s answer was that “there is a cost of using the price mechanism.” This cost relates to what were later labelled “transaction costs” — the costs of “discovering what the relevant prices are,” and of “negotiating and concluding a separate contract for each exchange transaction.” A firm is created when these transaction costs are higher than the costs of organizing and managing the firm. Read more of this post

Trevor Baylis, the inventor of the wind-up radio is calling on young people to consider the so-called “oily rag” trade

British inventor: Trevor Baylis calls for schools to teach importance of invention

The inventor of the wind-up radio is calling on young people to consider the so-called “oily rag” trade. “Britain needs more engineers,” says Trevor Baylis.

Trevor Baylis in his garden, which overlooks the Thames Photo: PAUL GROVER

By Rebecca Burn-Callander

6:00AM BST 03 Sep 2013

“You don’t have to be a genius to be an inventor,” according to the serial entrepreneur and founder of Trevor Baylis Brands, which has helped over 9,000 inventors bring products to market. “I don’t wake up every morning thinking, ‘I’m going to invent something today’.” Mr Baylis OBE, 76, developed the world’s first wind-up radio in the early nineties. More recently, he has invented a mobile phone that is charged by a special pair of shoes as you walk. “Unfortunately, people are a bit nervous of the shoes because they look a bit like a bomb,” he admits. Read more of this post

Anxious and approaching 40: the high-flyers of the GFC left behind

Anxious and approaching 40: the high-flyers of the GFC left behind

PUBLISHED: 17 HOURS 13 MINUTES AGO | UPDATE: 4 HOURS 38 MINUTES AGO

Many middle-aged men feel their career is not moving and this depresses them. 

JILL MARGO

In the long, slow aftermath of the GFC, many careers have stalled. But it now appears that one group of bright young men have been hit particularly hard. These are the promising youngsters who were powering through the ranks of the financial services industry before the crisis hit. With the wind behind them and bonuses in front of them, their expectations were high. Now, they are still employed but almost five years have passed with hardly any upward movement. Read more of this post

Kyobo Life Insurance will hold an event to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the insurance firm’s founder Shin Yong-ho’s death; known by his penname Daesan, Shin was a pioneer in the local insurance industry by creating the world’s first ‘education insurance policy”

2013-09-03 17:50

Kyobo to commemorate founder

By Kim Tae-jong

The late Kyobo Life Insurance founder Shin Yong-ho, left, receives the Founders’ Award from the International Insurance Society in this file photo taken on June 27 in 1983

Kyobo Life Insurance will hold an event tonight to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the insurance firm’s founder Shin Yong-ho’s death at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Seoul, the company said Tuesday.
Also known by his penname Daesan, he was a legendary figure in the local insurance industry and devoted himself to the promotion of education here after the Korean War.
The event, which takes place between 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., consists of a photo exhibition, a commemoration ceremony and several performances. Distinguished guests will be in attendance, including International Insurance Society (IIS) CEO Michael Morrissey, Korean Poets Association Chairwoman Shin Dal-ja and ex-president of Sejong University, Yang Seung-kyu as well as other officials from the insurance industry. Read more of this post

Wang Wei, the soft-spoken billionaire head of SF Express, is finally opening his company to outside investments, a full 20 years after first founding his delivery service business

09.03.2013 19:04

Courier Service Firm Finally Takes Delivery of Outside Investment

For years SF Express resisted taking other people’s money, but a desire to remain an industry leader has seen it accept boxes of cash lately

By staff reporters Zhu Yishi and Zheng Fei

(Beijing) — Wang Wei, the soft-spoken head of SF Express, is finally opening his company to outside investments, a full 20 years after first founding his delivery service business. On August 19, executives at SF Express (Group) Co. Ltd. confirmed the company had entered a strategic investment agreement with state-backed investors Oriza Holdings of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province; China Merchants Group; and CITIC Capital. The three investors will own a little less than 25 percent of SF Express after the deal. Read more of this post

More than one million families have been forced to sell their home in just five years to meet the cost of elderly care

Elderly care crisis claims a million family homes

More than one million families have been forced to sell their home in just five years to meet the cost of paying for residential care, new figures have revealed.

Number of homes sold to pay for care ‘could be higher than previously thought’ Photo: IAN JONES

By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor

10:00PM BST 03 Sep 2013

The estimate, based on polling measuring families’ individual experiences, is far higher than Government projections have previously suggested. But charities and pensions experts said it represented one of the first realistic attempts to quantify the scale of the hidden care funding crisis in the UK. And they claimed that it showed that the Government’s long-awaited overhaul of the social care system in England – including the introduction of a cap on bills – does not go far or fast enough to address the crisis thousands of families are facing. Read more of this post

Singapore: Why pay $12 million for quiet coffee shop? “The coffee shop is like an art piece – its worth will appreciate over time.”

Why pay $12 million for quiet coffee shop?

Wednesday, September 4, 2013 – 09:40

Linette Heng

The Straits Times

You will still see the same old faces here every day, jokes the regulars at a quiet coffee shop in Tampines. The place was put up for sale late last month, with an asking price of $10 to 12 million. This tender exercise comes just months after a coffee shop in Hougang was reportedly sold for a record price of $23.8 million. But patrons and stall owners are puzzled by the asking price of this particular Tampines coffee shop, DE 131. Read more of this post

Most Influential 50’s New Names Show Shakeup: Bloomberg Markets

Most Influential 50’s New Names Show Shakeup: Bloomberg Markets

They shape economies, move markets, do deals — and change the world. They hold sway by virtue of the money the manage, the companies they control, the policies they enact and the ideas they propound. The people on the third annual 50 Most Influential list, to be published in the October issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, command attention as masters of the global financial system. Some work the strings of power in the courtroom or the halls of government, while others campaign for access to education, equal opportunities or the alleviation of poverty. These are people with clout. To find candidates for our list, we tap the expertise of reporters and editors in 146 Bloomberg News bureaus around the globe. Rankings published in Bloomberg Markets throughout the year help shape our decisions. Recent achievements count for more than long careers, although Warren Buffett, 83, and Carl Icahn, 77, show that it’s possible to have both. In all, 36 of our 50 are new to the list this year. Only seven — including Buffett, Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink — have been on it all three years. We’ve grouped our influencers into five categories: Bankers, Policy Makers, Money Managers, Corporate Power Brokers and Thinkers. As in prior years, we excluded heads of government from the Policy Makers rubric, favoring instead the cabinet officials, regulators and central bankers who actually make things happen. Read more of this post

Hello Kitty jet flies into Los Angeles

Hello Kitty jet flies into Los Angeles

EVA air plane decorated with “Hello Kitty”

11 hours ago

The most famous cat in the world will be making its maiden voyage into the US this month, when Taiwanese airline Eva Air sends its first Hello Kitty-emblazoned jet into Los Angeles. After accompanying passengers on Asian routes to Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, China and Guam for years, the cartoon kitten that has become fetishized for generations the world over will make her first North American journey later this month on a B777-300, reports Business Traveller Asia-Pacific. The service is also likewise to enter Europe in the future. Read more of this post

Get outrageous to get ahead

Get outrageous to get ahead

Calls to raise productivity have never been more pressing, at a time when the outlook for world economic growth is uncertain. Even then, the reality of getting past the productivity plateau is a long-term challenge that many countries are all too familiar with.

BY GERRY TAN –

6 HOURS 52 MIN AGO

Calls to raise productivity have never been more pressing, at a time when the outlook for world economic growth is uncertain. Even then, the reality of getting past the productivity plateau is a long-term challenge that many countries are all too familiar with. At a time when businesses are facing increasing pressures to perform, what does it take for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to stay ahead of the game? Read more of this post

When Movies Trade on Real Life; Do the makers of films claiming to be based on or inspired by real stories have an allegiance to the truth, or just to the art of storytelling?

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 3, 2013 9:59 PM

When Movies Trade on Real Life

DEBATERS

Being True Is Hard Work PAMELA KATZ, SCREENWRITER

One must be accurate about someone’s life. But if you don’t illuminate something essential about their life, work and personality, you fail to tell the truth.

From Little Truth, a Bigger Truth AISHA HARRIS, SLATE

Inventing most of its characters and plot lines, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” turns a benign life into a symbol of an epic struggle.

Manipulate History? So Did Shakespeare ROBERT B. TOPLIN, HISTORIAN

Cinematic historians exercise a good deal of artistic license because they make stories entertaining and understandable.

Filmmakers Have a Duty to Be Honest PAUL BYRNES, CRITIC

It’s foolish to assume no one will check a fact on the Internet. We all deserve a higher standard of truth.

A Blurred Line Between Fact and Fiction MOLLY HASKELL, CRITIC

Filmmakers need to have more faith in viewers, and viewers need to be more skeptical about filmmakers.

INTRODUCTION

This seems to be the year of the fact-based movie. After “Argo,” “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty“ dominated the Oscar buzz last year, more movies are based on or inspired by true stories. “Fruitvale Station” tells of the 2009 shooting of a young man by an Oakland transit officer and “Captain Phillips” will recount a merchant ship’s capture by Somali pirates. Other films out or coming out this year are based on the lives of Steve Jobs, Julian Assangeand Linda Lovelace. Often, in these films, accuracy is sacrificed for drama. But do the makers of films claiming to be based on or inspired by real stories have an allegiance to the truth, or just to the art of storytelling?

Read more of this post

Global warming fueling tornadoes: Japan

Global warming fueling tornadoes: Japan

Wednesday, September 4, 2013 – 10:28

Yusuke Tomiyama and Hiroyuki Oyama

The Japan News/Asia News Network

JAPAN – Tornadoes are relatively uncommon in Japan, but they have hit the nation with increasing frequency amid global warming. A tornado ripped through Saitama and Chiba prefectures on Monday, blowing roofs off of buildings and injuring dozens of people. The tornado was spawned by huge cumulonimbus clouds that rapidly developed in the Kanto region on Monday afternoon. Read more of this post

Bloomberg’s very strange headlines are in danger of making sense

Bloomberg’s very strange headlines are in danger of making sense

By Zachary M. Seward @zseward September 3, 2013

The famously bizarre and inscrutable headlines that often adorn Bloomberg News articles are a cherished joke among journalists, most of all within Bloomberg itself. But they may be in danger of losing their peculiar edge.

Some prototypically odd headlines from the past year:

∞ Feeding Naked Chef’s Chickens Killing Biggest Bond Rally
∞ Mao’s Red Flag May Need to Evoke Panda DNA to Beat Audi
∞ Harvard Women Freed From Urinal 50 Years After First Female MBA
∞ BMW to Amazon Space Demand Spurs Rush to Inland Empire

That Bloomberg writes sometimes incomprehensible titles for its article is no secret. The phenomenon has a hashtag and a parody Twitter account. But now, to the chagrin of some Bloomberg News staff, someone important has taken notice. Read more of this post

Revealed: UK Government let British company export nerve gas chemicals to Syria

Revealed: UK Government let British company export nerve gas chemicals to Syria

UK accused of ‘breath-taking laxity’ over export licence for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride

CAHAL MILMO  , ANDY MCSMITH , NIKHIL KUMAR

MONDAY 02 SEPTEMBER 2013

The Government was accused of “breathtaking laxity” in its arms controls last night after it emerged that officials authorised the export to Syria of two chemicals capable of being used to make a nerve agent such as sarin a year ago. The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, will today be asked by MPs to explain why a British company was granted export licences for the dual-use substances for six months in 2012 while Syria’s civil war was raging and concern was rife that the regime could use chemical weapons on its own people. The disclosure of the licences for potassium fluoride and sodium fluoride, which can both be used as precursor chemicals in the manufacture of nerve gas, came as the US Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had evidence that sarin  gas was used in last month’s atrocity in Damascus. Read more of this post

Chinese netizens jokes about Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia

China’s web reacts to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia

September 4, 2013

by C. Custer

I think Nokia holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of Chinese mobile phone users. When I first moved to the country in 2007, my Chinese friends all told me: get a Nokia. They’re cheap, they’re durable, and they work; this was the mantra that helped the mobile phone company dominate China’s nascent mobile marketplace. Just a few years later, though, things have changed dramatically, as evidenced by Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia yesterday. Nokia’s dominance is long-gone in China, but could the acquisition put the once-popular company back on the upswing there? Sina Tech conducted a poll of 70,000 its readers — so mostly tech geeks, presumably — and found that more than 54 percent look favorably on the buyout, with just over 30 percent pessimistic about the company’s prospects under Microsoft’s wing and the remaining 14 percent not sure. The mood on Sina Weibo seems to be similar, with lots of people hoping the acquisition can re-invigorate the struggling company. Hope might be the key word there; China’s net users are definitely also engaging in a little bit of nostalgia for the (good?) old days when everybody had a Nokia brick. For example, this lengthy infographic charting Nokia’s handsets over the years is making the rounds. Of course, it wouldn’t be the Chinese web without jokes, so here’s a bit of one of the most popular images that’s being passed around. Translation by us: